Preschool Child Care for All Kids

Premier Wynne Highlights How Only Ontario Liberal Plan Will Deliver for Families

Friday, May 18, 2018

TORONTO — Only the Liberals have a child care plan for Ontario families that is clear, credible and costed – and can actually deliver high-quality, affordable care.

Premier Kathleen Wynne was at Studio 123 today, a licenced early learning centre in Toronto, to talk about how every young family will benefit from our plan to make preschool child-care free of charge.

Under a re-elected Liberal government, child care will be free for every child from the age of 2½ until the day they start full-day kindergarten, saving families an average $17,000 per child. With the funding already in place to build more child-care spaces across our province, we will be ready to meet demand for this high-quality, publicly funded care.

The consensus is emerging among experts and the media that our universal approach is the best child care plan for Ontario families. It would provide an immediate benefit for the greatest number of people.

The NDP have put forward a proposal that, while generous, is woefully void of details. It would leave some families out entirely, and leave others stuck on long waitlists because the NDP lack a plan to create more spaces. Meanwhile, Doug Ford has taken himself out of the child care conversation altogether. He’s offering parents a tax rebate – putting the free market ahead of families once again.

As part of our child care commitment, a re-elected Liberal government will also:

Build 100,000 new child care spaces

Offer extra subsidies and capital funding for infant and toddler care

Deliver free child care beginning in 2020

The Doug Ford Conservatives have no plan to fund child care and will cut billons from the services people depend on — like health care, education and transit — while rewarding the rich with unnecessary corporate tax cuts. The NDP have no plan to strengthen Ontario’s economy — which supports the services people depend on — and they would slam businesses with a huge tax hike. Only the Ontario Liberals will build a stronger economy that supports strong public services.

The Liberal plan also expands publicly funded prescription drugs to cover one-in-two people in Ontario, makes the largest mental health care investment in Canadian history, builds a record amount of transit, boosts hospital funding, helps more people go to college or university with publicly funded tuition and lets more parents go back to work by funding preschool child care from 2 ½ to kindergarten. Ontario’s economy is growing stronger, but that growth and the care and services it funds are at risk this election.

Quote

“For too long, the high cost of child care has been holding families back — particularly working mothers, who might spend their entire paycheque covering the cost of child care. The NDP have some ideas about how to make child care more affordable, but the reality is their proposal would lead to long waitlists, chaos and frustration. We have a plan. And only our Liberal plan for free preschool childcare will benefit every young family in Ontario, saving them $17,000 per child and offering their children the best possible start.”

—Premier Kathleen Wynne

“The Ontario Liberal Party’s child care plan is the only plan that is both transformative and realistic. Making preschool child care free of charge is the best next step forward in dramatically improving the affordability of child care for families in Ontario.”